Home > Women At Work: Jealousy And Envy Impact Women Differently Than Men

Women At Work: Jealousy And Envy Impact Women Differently Than Men

Teaser:

The Huffington Post reports on a study, published in the journal Revista de Psicologia Social, that examined the way that feelings of jealousy (defined as "a threat or loss of success in a relationship due to interference from a rival") and envy (defined as "a response to another person who has success, skills or qualities that [you] desire") impact workplace dynamics.

The study, published in the most recent issue of the journal Revista de Psicologia Social, examined the way that feelings of jealousy[1] (defined as "a threat or loss of success in a relationship due to interference from a rival") and envy (defined as "a response to another person who has success, skills or qualities that [you] desire") impact workplace dynamics. The researchers were especially interested in the way that these feelings impact "intrasexual competition"[1]-- competition between people of the same gender spurred on by the desire to get and keep "access" to the opposite sex.

What they found after studying men and women in the Netherlands, Spain and Argentina was that women's feelings of jealousy and envy can be predicted by intrasexual competition[1], whereas men's can't. "Women with a high level of intrasexual competition are more jealous if the rival is more attractive, and more envious if the rival is more powerful and dominating," Rosario Zurriaga[1], one of the study's authors, told the Spanish Foundation for Research and Technology. However, when it came to social skills, both men and women showed signs of jealousy and envy toward individuals who seemed to have an easier time socially at the office.